A Brooklyn man visiting Ukraine says he witnessed masked men handing out leaflets ordering Jews in eastern Ukraine to register with authorities.
Yosef Gurevitz, who is from Crown Heights and is in Donetsk visiting family, told NBC News he saw the men outside a synagogue earlier this week.
“There were about 100 of us outside the synagogue after Passover eve prayers [on Wednesday] when we saw three masked men in the crowd who started to hand out letters,” Gurevitz said. “One of them tried to tape one on the synagogue door. Then they quickly left. When I read the letter I was in shock.”
The papers say Jews are required to register with a “commissar” by May 3.
“It’s very worrying,” said Gurevitz. “We’re hoping its just a provocation but I always thought the days that Jews would become scapegoats for whatever reason were long over.”
It’s not clear who is behind the leaflets, and NBC News could not independently confirm Gurevitz’s account.
But the United States has condemned the distribution of the leaflets as “grotesque,” no matter who is responsible.
Speaking in Geneva after top diplomats from the U.S., European Union, Russia and Ukraine reached agreement on steps to de-escalate the situation, Secretary of State John Kerry denounced the leaflets.
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3 Responses
“masked men” – governments don’t hand out official notices wearing masks – not that whatever else you want to say about the Gestapo, they didn’t wear masks
Possibilities:
1. Someone’s idea of a bad joke
2. Some Russian’s idea of trying to scare people
3. Some Ukrainian’s idea of trying to scare people
It is a creation of Ukrainian Nationalists from the Maiden protests in Kiev that overthrew the government and seized national power following their coup de’tat against the democratically elected President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovch.
heard it was a hoax